FINGER-PKINT SYSTEM LAUFER. 641 



Not many literary data are available with which to trace the liistory 

 of the finger-print system in China. Indeed, it is striking that we do 

 not find in any author a clear description of it and its appUcation. 

 The physicians, in their exposition of the anatomy of the human 

 body, do not allude to it, and it is certain that it was not anatomical 

 or mecUcal studies wliich called it into existence. It formed part of 

 the domain of folklore, but not of scholarly erudition. In a society 

 where learning was so highly esteemed and writing was almost wor- 

 shiped as a fetich there was little chance for the development of a 

 process from which only the ilhterate class could derive a benefit. 

 An ingenious system of taUies and a highly organized system of 

 official and private seals regulated by Government statutes took the 

 function of verification. The personal signature never had any great 

 importance in pubhc or private transactions, and the st^de of hand- 

 writing as individually chfFerentiated in Cliina as among us would 

 always allow of a i)erfectly safe identification. We have most suc- 

 cessfully apphed the finger-print system in two phases of our social 

 life — in banldng transactions and in the detection of criminals. 

 These two institutions move on entirely different lines of organization 

 in China, and for tliis reason finger prints never were a real necessity 

 there. The Chinese banldng system does not require any signature, 

 and could accordingly introduce no substitute for it. A bank in 

 China issues to its depositor a pass book of miniature size consisting 

 of a long continuous sheet of paper folded in })ages and held together 

 by two stiff blue covers. The entire book may, therefore, be unfolded 

 at once and exhibit the credits and debits at a glance. Every deposit 

 is entered, Avdth the date, by a clerk of the establishment, and should 

 the tlepositor wish to draw a sum, he carries or sends liis book to the 

 bank, wliich, on payment of the amount, charges it against liim by 

 entry in the same book. There is no check system. If the customer 

 would make payment to a tliird person, the procedure is the same. 

 The draft system, which is highly developed in China, works weU 

 without a stroke of the brush being involved on the part of the jjerson 

 to whose credit the draft is issued. IVIr. N. orders a draft from a 

 Peking bank, payable in liis name, at a bank in Si-ngan fu. The 

 Peking house WTites the document out on a rectangular paper biU 

 containing the same matter on the right and left sides, one column 

 of wilting running exactly down the center. The document is then 

 evenly divided intf) halves, the vertical column of characters being 

 cut through in the middle. Mr. N. will receive the right half, wliile 

 the left half wiU be forwarded in the mail by the Peking bank to 

 Si-ngan fu. On arrival there Mr. N. wiU present liis part of the 

 document, which wiU bo carefully checked off with the other half, 

 and if both are found out on close examination to tally, the draft 

 wiU be honored, no receipt and signature on the part of Mr. N. being 



